ukraine continues right now as i send things off to my colleague in washington, "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. crimea was just voted most likely to secede. account u.s. stand in the way? i'm jake tapper. this is the le is "the lead". the region's parliament votes to join the russian federation. so how far will ukraine and the u.s. go to keep the land? president obama calling russia's actions a violation of international law. the u.s. has made threats and imposed sanctions against russia, but we'll ask the white house do they have any teeth. and the politics lead. a harsh confrontation during a congressional investigation into irs abuses. between interrogate tore and witness? no. between the republican chairman and the commit's top democrat whose mike was killed. now the congressional black caucus is demanding action.

good afternoon, everyone. i'm jake tapper. welcome to "the lead". we'll begin with the world lead. can to not dare call us ukranians. we swear allegiance to mother russia now. the parliament voted to separate from ukraine and join the russian federation accelerating an already rapidly developing conflict. crimea will hold a refer rep dumb vote in ten days to ratify its decision, but president obama says the world will not stand for that after the white house announced new sanctions and visa restrictions on certain russians. we do not know yet which ones. the president russia that they have already gone too far. >> since the russian intervention, we've been possible l mobil mobilimobile liding the international community. the proposed referendum would violate the ukranian constitution and violate international law. any discussion about the future

of ukraine must include the legitimate government of ukraine. >> except of course russia does not recognize ukraine's interim government as legitimate the. the u.s. has been trying to get russia to the negotiating table with ukraine's current leaders.. the u.s. has been trying to get russia to the negotiating table with ukraine's current leaders.. the u.s. has been trying to get russia to the negotiating table with ukraine's current leaders.. the u.s. has been trying to get russia to the negotiating table with ukraine's current leaders.. the u.s. has been trying to get russia to the negotiating table with ukraine's current leaders. secretary of state john kerry today met with his russian counterpart sergey lavrov in rome, but lavrov said russia has not yet found any common ground with the u.s.. kerry emerged from their meeting with more harsh words for mother russia. >> the choices that russia has made escalated this situation and we believe that russia has the opportunity now together with the rest of us, but russia particularly has the opportunity now to make the right choices in order to deescalate. >> crimea is the only ukrainian region where ethnic russians are

the majority. keep that in mind when trying to predict how this referendum vote might pan out in ten days. let's go to anderson cooper, he is standing by live in kiev. anderson. >> reporter: jake, as if the diplomatic efforts could not get anymore difficult right now, this move by the new crimean parliament has certainly thrown a wrench into just about everything on the ground here. i can tell you reaction here in kiev has been universally to condemn it, among the political leaders and protesters and just among ordinary residents here. i was talking to a woman earlier who started to cry saying she could not imagine the idea of ukraine without crimea, that the idea of the nation which is what people here in the square say they fought for, the idea of the nation of ukraine breaking up is something that they find simply unthinkable. and it certainly has made it far

more difficult for the u.s., for the european union to come to some sort of diplomatic solution with russia. if the people in crimea on march 16th vote to join the russian federation, if russia even then approves it, which is still an open question, it's not clear russia even wants crimea to be part of the russian federation, it raises a whole host of questions as you pointed out. ukranian military bases, which are in crimea, would all of a sudden then -- local leaders could say we're joining russia, it is no longer valid to have ukrainian military bases here, all troops have to get out. so there is a huge complication for events on the ground and obviously the result of this referendum will be crucial. >> you described the scene as almost something like out of world war ii. expand on that. >> reporter: it really is. it's very rare that you see

battlements hand made, made out of fences and whatever people could find. tires, corrugated steel, pieces of wood. whatever garbage bags, whatever they could find. and they're just piled up. you can probably see some behind me. but there are just layers of these very primitive defenses, effective against the riot police more than a week and a half ago, but very primitive. and it's just an extra ordinary scene. you have people camped out, huddled by fires, protesters who refuse to leave the square. boxes of empty beer bottles ready to be made into molotov cocktails if violence once again breaks out. i've been to a lot of front lines. it reminds me a little bit of sarajevo back in the early '90s where you had residents trying to stop snipers in the hills from firing mar tore mortars ie

city. but not something you see every day. >> just a few weeks ago that snipers were firing upon protesters. let's go to anna corn in the capital of the crimean region. what is the sentiment there, do they want to become part of the russian federation? >> reporter: absolutely, jake. there is an overwhelming support for this referendum. the people we spoke to said this is people power at work. we spoke to one woman who was born here when it was part of the soviet union and she said this is only right that it returns to the mother land. we have to remember that 60% of cry me ans are ethnic russians. so strong cultural and historical ties between crimea and russia.iy me ans are ethnic.

so strong cultural and historical ties between crimea and russia. me ans are ethnic r. so strong cultural and historical ties between crimea and russia.me ans are ethnic ru. so strong cultural and historical ties between crimea and russia.ans are ethnic russi. so strong cultural and historical ties between crimea and russia. have a listen to what they said earlier today. >> how will you vote some. >> translator: we are from crimea. we were born here when crimea was part of russia. >> translator: we'll vote for the crimea going back to its roots. >> translator: i think there is no need for the referendum. because crimea is a part of ukraine and it should keep being a part of ukraine. >> reporter: jake, interesting to hear that student speak because obviously a differing opinion. she thinks it should just remain part of ukraine. but you really do see that divide between the younger generation and the older generation. but as far as the new crimean government here is concerned, they want to be a part of russia. deputy prime minister today said the only troops that should be here in this region are russian troops. anyone else would be considered an occupying force. and he's given an ultimatum to the ukranian troops that are here saying you either swear

allegiance to russia or you leave. and he has offered safe passage out of crimea. we went to a military base earlier today and there were russian troops on the ground despite the what russian president putin said about there being no russian forces, they are present and they are surrounding these military bases. >> anna coren, thank you and stay safe. what do russians think of this resolution and the obama's administration response in joining me now is vladimir pozner. thank you for joining us. we heard the president calling the proposed referendum, quote, unconstitutional and it would violate international law. clearly the white house strategy is to keep the vote from happening or invalidate it before it happens. what do you think the result will be of that white house rhetorical campaign? >> frankly, i don't think there is going to be any result.

and i've even put this way. if the white house thought that particular vote would be negative, that is to say anti-russian, get out of here, we want to stay with ukraine, they wouldn't probably call it unconstitutional. they know that the result is going to be not what they would like to be because the majority of people living in the crimea -- 60% are russians. they're very pro russian. and as you know, crimea used to belong to russia before in a key take khrushchev gave it to ukraine when it didn't mean anything when it was the ussr. suddenly when the country fell apart, it turned out what once belonged to russia, that is to say namely crimea, now belonged to ukraine. and a lot of people have been unhappy with that. clearly that refer rendum will take place and the vast majority of people will say we want to be

part of the russian federation. which is a dangerous thing. >> why do you think that is a dangerous thing? >> well, because it means if -- now, i don't know whether president putin will accept that, i don't know whether he'll say okay, let's take them into our federation, but if he does, let's not forget that crimea is part of ukraine. whether we like it or not, it is. so that would kind of be taking away territory that doesn't belong to you. and think that's a very dangerous thing to do. it's a first step in my opinion towards a very profound worsening relations between russia the united states, russia and we were you'stern europe, ad have some consequences. >> what do you think about the sanctions the white house has announced? do you think the russians view this as a serious threat? >> quite frankly, no.

i think that in the past we've seen all kinds of sanctions in soviet times, with afghanistan back then and then later on -- this is a country that has gone through some pretty difficult situations. these are people who know how to tighten their belts. also they're very proud people. and they're not the kind of people who back down when they're threatened by anything. on the contrary, it usually is counter productive. i understand the desire, but it has never worked and it probably won't this time around. i think instead of sanctions there should be some type of effort to sit down at a table, american, western europe, ukranian, russians and try to find a way to solve this problem without threatening each other. because these threats really go nowhere at all. and taking for instance revoking visas for certain russians who

are seen to be part of something the united states doesn't like, so what? who cares about that? there is a certain number of russians who won't be able to go to the united states. that's really not going to do anything in changing basic policies. i think that the time has come to show some wisdom rather than threatening each other and kind of doing this who is chicken, who will blink first. >> thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. coming up, a violation of international law. that's what president obama is calling a crimean call to saecee from ukraine. but is the u.s. just afraid the vote won't turn out the way they want to? we'll ask. but first, texas governor rick perry standing up for chris christie. does the former republican presidential candidate have it in him to try again in 2016? we'll ask governor perry next. [ male announcer ] we know they're out there.

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seriously, you met her like three times. who? geico. time for our politics lead. governor chris christie left the beautiful garden state for the nation's capital today speaking at cpac. the welcoming crowd gave him a standing o, pretty good for a guy who wasn't even invited last year because he appeared too cozy with president obama. christie today returned the warm reception with a blazing attack on president obama starting with obama's handling of the budget negotiations in 2011. >> you're the leader of the government, you see something ready to go off the rails and what you decide to do is stay as far away from it as possible. well, my question then is the same -- my question now is the same question i had then. if that's your attitude, mr. president, what the hell are

with paying you for? >> tomorrow it will be texas governor rick perry's turn at the podium. his last as head of the lone star state. he steps down at the end of the year just in time to potentially jump into the crowded race to be the republican candidate for president in 2016. and i'm joined now by the republican governor of texas, rick perry, longest serving texas governor in the history of the lone star state. >> good to be with you. >> i first want to ask you about a big situation going on in the news, the white house announced today sanctions targeting specific individuals directly involved in the crisis in ukraine. putin not on this list, not that extraordinary for an initial list like this. former defense secretary bob gates warned that the united states could actually end up isolating itself instead of isolating russia if we get too far out of our allies on this. what do you think about the white house action? >> well, i think sanctions work.

this white house, though, has had very effectless policies. we've seen policies that have been very muddled. when you look at syria, when you look at egypt, all of those have been extremely muddled in their application. i hope that that's not what we're going to do here. working with allies are always very important. and one of the ways is we talked about earlier, possibly using united states liquid natural gas as a diplomatic tool here. >> that's big in your state. >> we need to use that and flex on you muscle, if you will, that sends a message to russia and sends a message to our friends in the european union that we'd be willing to negotiate to help relieve the pressure from the russians on the natural gas side. that could be i think a very powerful message to russia and

even more so to the eu and to our friends there. >> you're speaking at cpac tomorrow as you wind down your gubernatorial reign. you've made no secret of the fact that you may explore the possibility of running for president in 2016. you and i have talked about how the republican party often nominates somebody who has run before. not necessarily successfully. romney, mccain. in fact it's almost the rule with your party with the exception of george w. bush. i know that you don't look back at your 2012 campaign experience as one of the shining moments of your career and i'm sure you've learned a lot. what is one they thin thing you 2012 that because you are wiser you will not do in 2016 if you run? >> i won't have major back surgery. >> good idea. >> how much was that a factor? >> i think it was. this was a very humbling experience for me. i'm 61, i'm bulletproof, i'm 10

foot tall, i can do anything. you'll face that shall day. >> i'm not 61, but i'm facing it. >> the fact is we go through humbling events in our lives. and that one certainly was. anyone who watched that campaign knows it was a very humbling time for me. but that's not necessarily bad. i judge people on how do you react after a failure. how do you pick yourself up and go forward. certainly it's part of what drives me to finish up my 11 months as a governor of texas on high notes, economically for our state which we're doing. and it is an option for me. and it's one that sometime in 2015, i'll make the decision whether or not that is the avenue that i want for pursue. >> you talked about red state versus blue state policies. a republican who is a blue state governor chris christie speaking at cpac today. let's put up these polling numbers. would you vote for rick perry in

2016, definitely 8%, would consider it, 52%. definitely not 21%. that is among republicans. chris christie, the numbers are worse. about the same definitely 9%, would consider it 50%, but 30% much more higher negatives definitely not the. i know you're a political junky and you keep abreast of these things.the. i know you're a political junky and you keep abreast of these things.he. i know you're a political junky and you keep abreast of these things.e. i know you're a political junky and you keep abreast of these things.. i know you're a political junky and you keep abreast of these things. how concerned are you by bridgegate and do you buy the idea that if he had nothing to do with what his aides do, a governor sets a tone. and you should be able to speak to that. >> i think we all set a tone. i think we all represent our state. and i think chris represents his state and frankly represents his state well. the issues of this bridge and whether he knew or not, i trust that he is telling us the truth. i trust that the people of new jersey believe him and they will continue on with this. i think there has been a lot of

focus on that that has distracted from him going forward. he's the chairman of the republican governors association. he has the support of the governors in doing that. so we're going to go forward. that will be a story that has some legs for some period of time. but the real way that we're judged is on the economic impact that we have on our states. it's about the vision that we have for america. and that is a long way down the road. >> last question, sir. whether or not you run for president, whether or not you're the nominee, you will be doing everything you can to defeat the democrat. who it looks like will probably be former secretary of state hillary clinton. the democratic party very united around her, republican field all over the map. no real frontrunner. can hillary be defeated? >> i think that is so far down the road -- >> oh, come on. >> for those of you that try to at that time focus off of 2014 -- i'm not being coy.

it's just the fact. there are all types of stories, all types of thing, all types of events that are going to occur between now and november the 14th. they completely change the landscape of 2016. my focus and i hope most republicans and republican governors in particular will stay focused on 2014. we get that right, then the script for 2016 may substantially look different. >> governor rick perry, thank you so much for joining us. good luck with your speech tomorrow. >> thanks. and this just in, the russian military just began large scale air defense drills. a here mere 280 east of its bor with ukraine. this just hours after the local parliament voted to separate and join the russian federation. these drills reportedly involve about 35,000 russian troops and more than 1,000 units of military hardware over the next month. how will the white house respond

to this latest move by russia? we'll ask the president's deputy national security adviser coming up. what super poligrip does for me is it keeps the food out.

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welcome back to "the lead". politics lead now. he cut a fellow congressman's microphone in mid sentence and now the congressional black caucus wants darrell issa booted from the committee he chairs. issa adjourned yesterday's hearing abruptly after the witness, lois lerner, again exercised her right to plead the fifth and not speak about the irs targeting scandal and her role in it and whatever orders she may or may not have received. but ranking member of the committee elijah cummings was not even finished speaking when things got testy. >> you cannot just have a one-sided investigation. it is absolutely something wrong with that. and absolutely unamerican. >> now congresswoman marsha fudge, the chair of the congressional black caucus, is calling foul. >> the house of representatives strongly condemns the offensive

and disrespectful manner in which chairman darrel e. issa conducted the hearing on the house committee of oversight and government reform. >> this afternoon cummings finally got to finish his thought. >> not only were chairman issa's actions an abuse of authority, they were counter productive. in my opinion, the house republicans have abandoned responsible oversight by repeatedly declining to take basic investigative step, promoting unnecessary political conflict and making false claims about the white house. >> joe johns is here with the latest. joe, the involvement of the congressional black caucus, does that mean that they're suggesting something was racial about this incident? >> a lot more caucus, a lot more politics, a lot less race i think is probably the way you can best put it. the cbc is involved in part because elijah cummings is former chair. but speaking with the current

chair, she doesn't see race as having anything to do with it. and people close to cummings says he sees race even as a distraction. we're being told a similar situation involving issa shutting down the mike occurred in december and involved a white congressman, john tyranierney o massachusetts. so issa at least once had to apologize to cummings because of a remark that could be con viewvietrued as insensitive. >> speaker boehner said issa was within his rights. >> do you approve of the way he acted and are you prepared to say he won't replace him as chair? >> darrell issa is the chairman. he's done an effective job as chairman and i support him. >> what is issa's explanation for what he did? >> it's pretty simple. he says this hearing was a continuation of the hearing that started in may and it involved that former irs official who had actually said she wasn't going to testify. fast forward to yesterday, and

it was just a continuation of the hearing. so no need to allow cummings to have his extra five minutes to speak because he'd already done an opening statement. they say it was all about procedure, of course the fact of the matter is for one reason or another, mr. issa did not want mr. cummings to speak. >> and issa has voiced frustration before that he wants lo loisler they lerner to explain. >> and she could get cited with contempt, and whether the question of whether she should be given immunity from prosecution. >> all right. thanks. moments ago, the senate shut down a bill that would have changed the way the military prosecutes zeshs a s sexual ass. senator gillibrand has been fighting for the bill. the bill lost by a vote of

55-45. and did not break along party lines at all. pentagon leadership opposed the bill arguing commanders should not be stripped of their responsibilities. gillibrand says changes are needed to take on the epidemic. when we come back, a frustrated president obama laying the ground work for sanctions against russia if the crisis in ukraine is not worked out. but how long does putin have before time runs out? i'll ask a top national security adviser to the president coming up next. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood.

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and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? welcome back. continuing our world lead, the te tense situation unfolding in ukraine. russia has begun what it's calling the largest ever exercise. scant 280 miles from its border with ukraine according to russia state news. word of this comes shortly after the local parliament in ukraine's disputed territory crimea voted to separate and join the russian federation.

and even more shortly after president obama warned russia that it is violating international law. ben rhodes joins me now. ben, the day started with the white house announcing sanctions and visa restrictions, but you weren't going to name anyone because you wanted to give the russians space to come to a diplomatic resolution. and here they are launching this immense military exercise. it does not seem as though the russians are taking president obama very seriously. >> well, no, jake, first of all, them space.hat we wanted to give the executive order gives us the ability to target individual russians entities responsible for the intervention. we're then going to move out. and we would sanction them for what they have already done in crimea to date and we're preparing those designations. we also made clear that we can escalate our sanctions if the russians escalate their activities. that's exactly what we'll do. we've already done the travel bans and we're preparing for designations based on the executive order the president

issued today. >> and now russia puts up this immense military exercise. what is your reaction to that news? >> well, look, whether or not russia has a military exercise within its borders is the not the issue. the issue is whether they respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. that's what they have already violated in crimea. we've been clear that it would be a destabilizing he is came laer to move for them. that would invite even stronger response from the united states and our european allies. as long as they're in crimea, they will face consequences from us that will have an impact on their economy. >> the u.s. does about $40 billion in trade every year with russia. but the european union does $460 billion. and they are very reluctant to engage in the kind of economic punishment that you're talking about. we've seen from the brits, we've seen from the germans and other, they are not interested in doing what the united states want s t

do. >> we think that they are. we think they understand that destabilizing activities on the borders of europe is not in the interests of their economy either. they indicated today that if this continues, if russia doesn't come to the table in a constructive way, they have move to similar types of sanctions. they have an escalating series of steps that they can take. we do believe that can have an impact on their economy. this is already having a cost on their economy and as the sanctions sink in, not only will it target individual russians who are corrupt, it will have an affect on the economy. >> crimea's first president ran on a pralatform of secession ju two years after it joined ukraine. is the u.s. ignoring a struggle for democracy within crimea? they seem toment with a to be part of the russian federation. >> i see two things. first, the referendum put

forward devry lates ukranian constitution. you cannot make decisions about a region without a government being part of that discussion. >> quebec has voted to secede from canada. they voted against it ultimately. scotland will vote on whether or not they want to be a separate country from the united kingdom. territories on which especially ones that are separate and apart from the country in which they reside, they on which maften ma like this. >> the scottish referendum is only going forward with the participation and support of the government in london. so it's not as if that was done with a foreign power coming in and guaranteeing the ability of the referendum. >> a lot of people in crimea want to be part of the russian federation. i don't understand why this would be something that the united states would say it is unfair, unconstitutional,

violates the constitution in ukraine adapted in 1996. it's not an age old document. >> it's something the authorities in kiev can talk to the people in crimea about. the prime minister said he's open to discussing automatic go autonomy arrangements. we understand russia has a long understanding relationship there and a military base there. but their interests do not include effectively occupying the peninsula. we said we can ensure rights are respected if we get monitors in. we can ensure that there is a legitimate government in ukraine if there are election in may and frankly, russia has a basing agreement that could allow those forces to stay in crimea. the ukrainian government has said they can stay there as long as they're back on their base. >> i think a lot of individuals think crimea is basically gone

at this point. but one other thing. republicans are also arguing that putin's actions are tied to an appearance of weakness from the white house. take a listen. >> the permissive environment that we have created through this reset thinking that someone like putin reacts to warmth and charm and reach out when what he really reacts to is weakness and i think he has seen that in our foreign policy efforts over the course of this last year. >> that is the ranking republican on the senate foreign relations committee, bob corker. he listed action mis des in dea with syria. i wanted to give you an opportunity to respond. >> two things. first of all, why putin did what he did in crimea had everything to do with ukraine. and what happened in ukraine is a pro russian government packed up and left town and was replaced by a pro western/pro american government. that's the scenario that led putin to take the action that he

did. not exactly a position of great strength in the world. he saw ukraine moving away from russia and he moved in. the second thing i'd say with respect to syria, i don't understand exactly what they're saying. should we have gone to war in syria just to send a message to putin? that's not smart foreign policy. we'll be very clear about what our interests are and what we stand for. and ukraine, we stand for the sovereignty of a country that wants to associate more with the west. >> ben rhodes, thanks for answering our questions. appreciate it. >> good to be with you. coming up next, president obama warning democrats prepare to get walloped in this year's midterm elections if they do not stay focused as republicans rally their base today. who has the advantage? plus the third grader who is taking on chicago mayor rahm emanuel. >> you should be investing in these schools, not closing they will. you should be supporting these schools, not closing them.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. why are house repu"retreating," ng," and privately saying they'd rather do "nothing" on immigration reform this year? doing nothing puts jobs on ice... forces us to lose out on revenue for roads and schools. and sends a message to millions of dreamers, who study hard and want to serve our country, they might as well dream on. no, nothing won't do.

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mitch mcconnell came out armed. the senate minority leader came on stage with a rifle. the gun was a lifetime achievement award from the nra that he handed off to his retiring colleague tom coburn who is leaving his term early for health reasons. the more common weapon in the room, of course, were words. >> we have long thought and said this president is a smart man. it may be time to revisit that assumption. >> man. here to talk about it all, kacal lee, and ron forney. last night president obama warned democrats they could get walloped in the midterm. tell us more about that. >> i was traveling with the president and he hasn't really talked about this in this way this time around yet. and so he was very concerned that they could get walloped, that if people sat on the sidelines, it seems like he was remembering 2010 which was a shellacking as he said.

>> as opposed to the thumping that bush talked about. >> and now a wallop. >> every midterm has its own. but let's talk about cpac. and seeing if republicans can get it together. there were two competing versions what have the party brand needs to be. here is texas senator ted cruise talking about the need to stand firm and not compromise. that's the way to win elections. >> you want to lose, stand for nothing. three of the four, we follow that had strategy. '06, '08, '12, we stood for nothing and we got walloped. >> another walloping. here is new jersey governor chris christie. principles, sure, they're nice. but winning also nice. >> we don't get to governor if we don't win. and it's not only bad when we

don't get to governor because we don't get to hold or change our society. what is worse is they do and they're doing to us right now. so please let us come out here, resolve not only to stand for our principles, but let's come out of this conference resolved to win elections again. >> who is right, ron? >> they both are and they're both a little bit wrong. i was actually struck by chris christie when he said the exthan nation he gave for how we win as a republican is not just to be -- not just talk about what we're against, but talk about what we're for. what we got instead from him and just about every republican out there was a pa trarade of straw. they were against obama, the media, hope and change, social list notions, gun control, wall street reform, unions, every against of course harry reid. so there was no pashtun guying vision except that we really don't like bram and be arack ob

anybody associated with him. >> i keep hearing how they all talk about how america's best days are in front of us. they definitely got the memo that they need to be more optimistic. but do they need to work on as ron says talking more about what specifically that means? >> well, yes, because the knock on republicans for the last couple of cycles has been that they have run against barack obama. and barack obama will be on the ticket to a certain septembexte fall, but not as much in 2016. you've heard this for years. people want to hear more. like okay, so you're not for that, so what are you for. and so that and being more optimistic. the idea that democrats try to stick on republicans saying no to everything actually took hold a little bit. so they're fighting against that at the same time. >> speaking about fighting, i want to touch on something that happened yesterday after the show. yesterday the senate blocked the

confirmation of debo adegbile former head of the legal defense fund. he was nominated to lead the justice department's civil rights division. criticism is that he had represented abu-jamal who was convicted 30 years ago of murdering a philadelphia police officer andage bile he anlage a get his death sentence overturned. what happened here? >> this is an amazing story. i'm the son of a detroit police officer. i have no sympathy for cop killers. but i also have no sympathy for people who knowingly ignore the constitutional right and guarantee of an attorney. these lawmakers know this. also the white house even though they're on the right side of this issue in my opinion, ham d handled the politics horribly. how is it that they did not have better preparation and people in their open party know this was coming? >> and it's something you see consistently. you saw that when the president wanted to nominate larry summers to lead the treasury.

they completely misjudged democrats being against that and the same when he tried to authorize force in syria. >> interesting. thank you so much for being here. coming up next, how do you deal with fixing schools when kids are dieing in the streets. a special sneak peek at the cnn original series chicagoland oig coming up next. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done.

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welcome back to the l.e.e.d.. while he does find time to challenge jimmy fallon to jump into lake michigan and defend chicago's interpretation of pizza, rahm emanuel's days are largely consumed with running the third largest city. democrats are gathering in

chicago this evening to discuss challenges those cities are facing and you'll see it chronicled in "chicagoland" that remeres tonight including the bidder fight over school budget cuts and closings, many in minority communities. >> the mayor is taking a risk with his bold school plan. while it might make sense because of the budget crisis and declining enrollment, many parents fear it puts their kids at risk because they will have to walk across dangerous gang lines to attend new schools. >> don't position you can just come into our schools and move all our kids over gang lines and just say we can build a building right here, let's take this school out, but there's kids in there. they need safety. >> he's speaking out for the 30,000 kids who would be affected by school closings. >> you should be investing in these schools. not closing them. you should be supporting these schools, not closing them.

we're not toys. we are not going down without a fight. >> gangs, guns and the battle for the future of chicago's schools. see all the real life drama when "chicagoland" premieres tonight on cnn, 10:00 p.m. eastern, 9:00 p.m. central. that's it for the l.e.e.ea "the. i turn you over to wolf blitzer. happening now, crisis in ukraine. some people being thrown off a roof. violent passions are running this high, how can diplomacy succeed. are u.s. lobbyists cashing in big time by selling russia's message? and i'll ask samantha power, does the international community have the will to roll back the russian move into crimea? she'll join us